Pretty Standard

8:30am, Saturday October 22nd. Blue skies are making their best effort to come out and shine for us today, however the clouds are definately lingering like a bad smell. It's been raining and storming all week - some welcome wet after a long dry spell. I am really hoping for more sun than rain today for my Thanksgiving dinner! I know my blogs have been few and far between recently; I blame work for this terrible injustice, draining my creative mental processes and all. But back to the hot topic du jour: today is the day for me to pull off the most thankful of all Thanksgiving dinners in all of Queensland. The idea struck me about 2 weeks ago when I saw all my Canadian friend's facebook status' about yummy turkey dinner etc, so I decided to have one here in Oz. How hard can it be? The fact I've never done one before, let alone for 11 people? No big deal. The fact that whole roast turkeys are about as easy to find here as the Yowie*, Bigfoot or Yeti? No big deal...

7:30pm, Wednesday September 7th. Sitting in the kitchen at the place I'm staying at in Freshwater, just north of Cairns. I have a green thai prawn curry simmering on the stove, with some fluffy quinoa to have on the side. Oh, and there's also a big glass of wine to my right with some Florance and the Machine soundtracking my night in. My roommate Bernie has gone to tennis so I'm home alone for a few more hours. Guess I haven't written for a month or so, so I have some catching up to do... Long story short, I have a job at Ireland's Mitsubishi/Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge as a service advisor working 7:30 - 5:30 Mon-Fri. It's a pretty good gig, although the management leaves a lot to be desired. I'm surrounded by a lot of winging (bitching) all day. All in all it's alright though - they're trying to have me stay longer but I've got to do some regional work to get the second year so we'll see how things pan out. (uh oh, this curry is too hot.....

10pm, Thursday July 21st. Finally said my goodbyes in Broome, and after a day on the road with Sasha our tour guide and just five other people, we've started the journey down to Perth. It feels a bit strange being away from Broome, but I am very excited about the next leg of my trip. Tonight, we're staying on Pardoo Station - a 500,000 acre chunk of land with about 8000 head of cattle roaming about. It's got a really nice vibe to the place - it is inspiring me to return to a cattle station down the road and see what I can get up to for work. The group seems really nice - I am thrilled that there is just six of us! The tour bus holds 20, so I've got a couple rows to myself which is just total luxury. Tomorrow will be a bit of a low key day - we'll be heading into Karijini National Park for 3 nights of camping around in gorges etc. I am really excited to see Karijini - everyone says how amazing it is! After Karijini we'll be heading towards Coral Bay and Exmouth w...

930pm, Friday July 8th. Sitting in my tent at a campsite in northern Western Australia (WA) called Gambanan. It's a beautiful spot Melissa and I kind of happened upon today. The past two nights we've been staying at a pearl farm camping site called Cygnet Bay. It was very nice - definitely frilly princess camping. We had a nice tent and the kitchen was lovely. The ABLUTIONS were also lovely. Does any of my Canadian friends know what the hell ablutions are? They sound like a cross between abortions and blasphemy to me, but they are just... showers. The Ablution Block. Shower/Toilet Block. Very strange if you ask me, but that's how they do in Oz. We had two nights there, and ended up chatting for a while the second night with a really nice gay couple from Sydney named Robbie and Pete. I've got a job at the Irish Pub Cock 'n Bull when I get there if I so wish. The swimming at Cygnet Bay wasn't the best, but it's sure great here at Gambanan! The private little b...

I can hardly believe it's been a month since my last blog post. How terrible! I've been meaning to write to y'all, but all my moments of inspiration have been taken over by the urge to eat or nap. C'est la vie while living in Broome with 2 jobs I suppose... What have I been up to? Well, working at Lustre as a supervisor and at Diver's Tavern serving and bartending. Great fun! Lustre is pretty chill and I'm in the cafe mostly, and Divers is usually pretty intense serving a lot of people on a daily basis. Divers is one of the "happening" places in Broome with lots of cool live acts, and a great chill vibe. All the people I work with at both places are super awesome. My friends include some Germans, Aussies, Frenchies, Canadians, Americans, Irelands (hehe), Brits... list goes on! It will be weird once this little part of my trip comes to an end. I am looking forward to not working anymore and chilling out again, but it is super awesome making m...

Living in Broome, through Broome-time. Blue skys, green palms, and no white clouds to shadow the city or bring specks of rain down upon the nomads, natives, or nudies.     These moments so special - Are they better shared with some significant other, or better to be relished and absorbed alone?   Broome is anything but lack-Lustre, combining the magnificent colours of Mother Nature; Reds, blues, greens, browns, with the energy and vital vibe of her human counterpart.   Come for work, play, swim and sun. Relax and absorb the beauty of this land, for you may leave different than when you arrived - with a little piece of Broome left in your heart.

830am, Thursday May 5th, 2011.  What a big few days!  I arrived in Broome on Saturday from Darwin, where Melissa met me at the airport.  Melissa is really lovely and a lot of fun.  She is putting me up here till I get settled.  Broome is awesome - it's a small pearling town of about 15k people, but in the dry season (may-oct) it gets up to 45k people!  Cable Beach runs alongside Broome and is one of the top beaches in the world!  Beautiful white sand stretches for miles, outlining clear blue water going as far as the eye can see.  Being on the west coast, the sunsets are incredible too.  Melissa often goes for walks on the beach after work, so I've been tagging along.  During our first walk, she said that it's always different and I wondered how the beach, sky and sea could always look so very different.  But now I understand!  Colours, clouds, glossy sand, sun, those little balls the clams make on the beach... Really incredible.  I've been swimming several times (twice...

6pm Wednesday April 20th. Sitting in kitchen patio area at my hostel in Darwin called Chillis. It's right downtown, but that's not saying much as downtown Darwin is quite small. Great nightlife though! Gone out and met a bunch of people last few nights, but going to take it easy now for the next few days. It's Easter weekend so there should be lots of people out and about! (said in an over exaggerated Canadian accent and people love it, eh? It's actually great - people ask where I'm from, I say Canada and mostly everyone is genuinely happy to hear it! "Oh Canada, cool! *big grin*") Another beauty day here today - it's the start of the dry season so the humidity is gone and it's not too hot - just perfect! Today I have done not much of anything, and tomorrow will probably be much the same. And the day after, and the day after that. Yesterday was a busy(ish) day - I got a fair amount accomplished. I sent out some mail and postcards - this required ge...

And, thanks for the chili pepper. On the bright side of that pretty awful experience, at least now I know I'm not dreaming, and this place is real. The story goes like this: Currently 7am April 15th sitting in "The Porch Cafe" in Sanur, Bali, watching all the scooters go by. It's my Dad's birthday today - Happy Birthday Dad! We arrived in Bali from Timika yesterday afternoon about 4:30pm, popped next door to the airport and had a Bintang beer (or two). We then headed back to where Gordon had us booked in at a little place called Flashbacks behind a cafe called The Porch in Sanur. Kuta is the main party town in Bali where all the backpackers and tourists go, but Sanur is more quiet and less hustle and bustle. The rooms are rustic little cabins/huts surrounded by lush greenery. I love it here. I digress... After changing into my black dress we head to a nearby bar by the beach for a mojito and some dinner. I love the Balinese artwork here - so my style! We're ch...

Arrived in Tembagapura in the Papua province of Indonesia on Tuesday; it's now Friday April 8th. Just had a hike up from the main town area to Hidden Valley - an suburb-like area where the families live that have come here for work. It's about a 2km hike up 1000ft - hard work WOW! Looks like I just beat the rain - you're guaranteed rain here everyday anytime after 11am going on indefinately. The hike is up a rocky dirt gravel road and is very steep at times. I got up about half way and could start seeing my breath. Not from the cold, but because I was then in the clouds. It's warm here, probably no colder than 20 degrees but the humidity is almost nil. Quite a change from Cairns where it's all hot and humid everyday! I imagine Darwin will be much the same so I'll have to re-climatize. Gordon has been working the last few days so I've been amusing myself which fortunately I'm really good at. My days look something like this: wake up about 10am,...

April 4th, 2:30pm. On a jet plane headed to Indonesia. Gordon is meeting me in Timika where we’ll stay the night, then in the morning we catch the helicopter to Tembagapura where he lives and works. I’ll be there a week or so then off to Bali for a few days. I hope to do some diving there, and some shopping. Yippee! My ears are popping differently than normal since my scuba diving – it must have loosened up my ear drums considerably! Just had a killer last weekend in Cairns with Lisa and our friend Karl. We lived large and stayed at the Novotel which was totally awesome compared to the 8 bed dorms I’ve been frequenting. We caught some live music Saturday night, then headed to a bar called Paddywacks where I sang a couple karaoke songs and did some dancing. Sunday was great – enjoyed the lavish buffet breakfast at the hotel, went into town and Lisa got a bar pierced through her ear – looks great!! Then we popped into a pub for a “Sunday Session” to share a jug (pitcher) of be...

Here's some writing from my days out on the boat... 10:45am, Saturday March 26th. Completed two dives so far today, the first one being at sunrise about 6am. Our second dive was at 8am, both of which were at The Three Sisters on the Milln Reef on The Great Barrier Reef. I am feeling considerably better now than I was about 18hrs ago. During our first dive about 1pm yesterday, I couldn’t equalize. I made it down to 6.2m and couldn’t go any further so the dive master trainee and myself ascended and I got back on the boat. I was totally upset, disappointed, embarrassed, frustrated, and pissed. I could feel my right sinus blocking up for whatever reason, but ate a couple cough drops in an attempt to clear my sinus’, and hopped back in the water for the 4pm dive. Got to 8.9m and the pain was bad, so up I came again. This time I was feeling hopeless, frustrated, and sad. I ate dinner, was trying not to be too much of a spoil sport, and went to bed for a nap. About 9pm we had a...

Found some free wifi, cheap pizza and happy hour at the Bella Vista along the ocean in Cairns. Lisa dropped me off here midday and I came to terms with the bed I'm bunking in. Well, I haven't totally come to terms with it yet, but I've paid for 3 nights so I'm sure I'll get there! I'm in an 8 share dorm - just $13/night. It's hot as all hell up there, but fortunately the lagoon is just 2mins away. There are no beaches here - you have to go up north a bit, so the salt water lagoon must suffice. I've got tomorrow off to do whatever I please, and Wednesday I start my scuba diving! Wed/Thurs pool and theory, Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon I'm on the boat doing my dives to become a certified advanced diver! Next destination for some diving will be in Exmouth on the west coast to see the whale sharks. Eeeeeooooooooooo!! It's about dusk right now and these black birds are going MENTAL! They are screeching like something in a horror movie and going crazy fly...

2:45pm, Saturday March 19th. After getting over the eebie jeebies of Freddie the Tree Frog and his buddy who I’ll now name Frank living in their laundry bathroom area and wanting to come inside the house, Lisa, Ross, and I headed north. We’ve now just arrived at Cape Tribulation hot, hungry and eager. We had reserved a cabin at PK’s Jungle Village (we are now in the Daintree rainforest with some of the oldest rainforest in the world) and are settling in nicely. Ross has cooked up some steak and salad, and some Haloumi. Mmmm, Haloumi. This cheese can be fried, and it doesn’t melt. Just gets nice and crispy and has such an incredible nutty flavour. I digress... we arrived and I bought a few nice postcards, then Lisa and I walked across the street to book the Jungle Surfing which we’re doing tomorrow 3:30pm. Soooo excited to go zip lining over the trees! It has been beautiful and sunny today – only a speck of rain. Ross rode his Harley here (approx 4hrs) and Lisa and I drove in the ute. A...

1030pm Tuesday night. Just had one of Ross and Lisa's friends over for some beers and dinner which was good fun. Had a real down pour for a while just after dark, but apparently this random, unpredictable, "liquid sunshine" has been going on this entire past year, so they're well and truly gettin' pretty sick of it! We've booked a trip up to Cape Tribulation for this weekend, Saturday and Sunday nights. We'll do some Jungle Surfing, amongst other things I'm sure! Really excited about that! Yesterday, the three of us took a drive over to the Tablelands (flat mountains) and took in the breathtaking scenery, many waterfalls, and persevered through the rain and sunshine. It was a totally gorgeous day! Today Ross had to go back to work, so Lisa and I spent the day together. We went into town mid morning and I sorted out my bank account, then to wait out the crazy downpour we hit Target. Found some good bargains there so that was some fun times as always. Af...

530pm Sunday, got into Innisfail with Ross and Lisa today about 2pm and have just been chilling out. They have a beautiful bit of property surrounded by sugar cane. Just had a chat with my Dad on the phone and he warned me not to go walking through the sugar cane as nasty beasties live in there - I mentioned this to Lisa, and she said that not only are there nasty beasties, there is "hairy mary" on the sugar cane which sticks in your skin like fibre glass! Yuck! I happened upon a really cute little bird while looking from my hotel balcony yesterday - it's called a Willy Wag Tail! Pictured above. They land, and swish/wag their long tails around and just look so funny and adorable! Also pictured above: those prehistoric birds/bats I saw flying around outside the hotel - they're actually called fruit bats, or flying foxes and they're everywhere! You must be careful walking under their trees! This morning we had to check out from the hotel, so I did a complete...

Day 3 and it's finally starting to set in that this is real. Lisa and I went out last night - had some bevvys (everything is -y in Australia. I'll demonstrate: drinky, bikey, esky {that's an eskimo cooler}, divey...), and now I'm chilling in the cyber world for a bit before I head back up to my room to explore more of my backpack and figure out all the compartments etc. It's so sweet I lovvvve it! Can't believe I'll be living out of it for the next year or so. Pretty freeing feeling. Like my Dad says (quoting one of his old friends), "If you ain't got nothing, you ain't got nothing to lose." I'm sitting here in the hotel lobby listening to all the Aussies around me and all I hear is "Hey mate, y'alright?" Hehe love it. Last night the four of us (me, Gordon, Lisa, Ross) went for a great Turkish meal - I had the falafel, and it was some of the best falafel I've ever eaten. We just had a big dump of rain, but that's ...

10:40am BC time. Not sure of the time in Australia, but I know that I left at midnight yesterday in LA and I’m now blogging in Word on the plane till I get to an internet source. Our flight path says we’re going 883km/h, it’s -52 outside, we’re flying at an altitude of 38000ft, and 2hrs 40mins till we reach Brisbane. This has been a thoroughly enjoyable 14hr flight though! Almost better than from Spokane to Seattle (turbulence has been a bit dodgy), and my bottom is feeling rather squished despite the lunges, stretches, and tours up and down the sleepy aisles. We’ve crossed over the international date line by now, so by the time we reach Brisbane it will be about 7:30am Australian time on Thursday March 10th, after leaving LA at midnight on Tuesday the 8th. This sure is a long haul – 30hrs is a long time to be on and off aeroplanes, in and out of airports. Not that I’m complaining because soon I will be in Australia and changing into my shorts! This Qantas flight is really gre...